Alcohol permit approved for downtown food truck

Published 1:19 pm, Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Todd Brown hopes his Brown's Bar-B-Q truck and eventually other food vendors will get noticed at his new First Fridays near downtown.

Todd Brown hopes his Brown's Bar-B-Q truck and eventually other food vendors will get noticed at his new First Fridays near downtown.

Photo: Courtesy Photo

Alcohol permit approved for downtown food truck

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

Some of the paperwork for a unique downtown eatery that serves food out of a permanently placed double-decker bus and a separate food truck was approved Tuesday during a City Council meeting.

The permanent double-decker bus, alongside its mobile food truck brother, will both be placed southeast of the North Colorado Street and West Ohio Avenue intersection in what is currently an empty lot. Seating will be on the upper portion of the bus and on the ground level in front to the bus, both types amounting to 74 seats.

Sonny Aguilar, the local business owner behind “Bus 22,” said the trucks will be serving fusion cuisine. The menu is expected to change weekly, and food will be served in limited quantities, he added.

The Bus 22 concept will also sell beer, wine and mixed drinks. Aguilar applied for an alcohol permit for the permanent bus that listed operating hours from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. from Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday.

Because the bus is permanent and not like a mobile food truck, the property is expected to generate property tax revenue for the city.

“(Bus 22) is going to be added to the tax base, improving property values downtown,” Mayor Jerry Morales said. “It’s an exciting downtown project because it brings some diversity to what we have downtown. And we have to think outside the box, different things are happening in our community with the young population moving in, so we should give this entrepreneur a chance.”

Aguilar is expecting Bus 22’s grand opening to be in spring 2015.

“There’s a need for it,” Aguilar said. “Midland needs something, and Bus 22 is going to provide that something.”

The food truck scene in Midland and Odessa is scarce. Most food truck operators in the area either do catering events as opposed to doing business at a set location, or they operate only at night with no social media or advertising awareness.

Aguilar himself admitted that the mobile food truck portion of Bus 22 is primarily for catering services but still plans to house the food truck next to the bus and serve food out of both vehicles on some days.

The council unanimously approved both the alcohol permit for the bus and the mobile vendor license for the food truck, but preceded the approvals with extensive talks about alcohol service, as Bus 22 is set to have late night hours and has a predominantly outdoor setting.

Council members wondered if Bus 22’s revenue would come more from food or alcohol and, if it was more alcohol driven, then would the establishment become more of a rowdy, bar atmosphere.

Aguilar said to the council that he will “control the alcohol” by several ways, including setting a high price and discouraging shots and other types of alcoholic drinks that encourage drunkenness. He also said that the beer and wine that will be sold is meant to be paired with the food.

“I personally believe that anywhere alcohol is served, there should be food,” Aguilar said.

In other City Council news:

During its briefing session before the City Council meeting, council members discussed setting standards when it comes to contract work with the city, including setting penalty fees for late completions and incentive dollars for early completions.

Some council members were considering setting the penalties and incentives for construction projects worth $500,000 or more and exceed a six-month construction time window.

Council contemplated the contract provisions after bearing frustration with the delay of Fire Station 10’s grand opening, originally meant to be complete in March and already has hired staff waiting to work inside it.

“We have a duty to be prudent with taxpayer dollars,” said District 4 Councilman J.Ross Lacy. “Station 10 has been delayed too long in my opinion.”

When asked to address the harm in setting the provisions, Morales said that the penalty provisions could deter contractors from bidding for city contracts, which in turn could increase the price of the project.

But when asked how to balance friendliness with contractors and holding contractors accountable for delays, Morales said the council will sit down with developers and negotiate on agreements that will have benchmarks to ensure on-time completions and incentive offers for early completions.

“We still have to think this through,” Morales said. “We need to continue with our discussions and weigh the pros and cons.”

City staff is still working on the penalty and incentive provisions, and thus the council has yet to approve any changes.